Hey everyone! So This is so far probably my least favorite chapter in writing. It contains a somewhat crucial setting for some events that occur later on in the story and the story may have actually suffered without it. There is no sexual content in this chapter (my apologies, you'll all just have to wait!). As always, this story is a M/M Romance. Also, as always, I greatly enjoy feedback, suggestions, ideas, constructive criticism and the like. The two main characters Max and Andrew are owned by me (as well as the story and all side characters within). The only thing in this chapter that I claim absolutely no rights to is the quote at the end of this chapter! The quote is from Lady Helena Atreides, from the book "Dune: House Atreides" written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. (A good book which I greatly recommend.) Without any further delay I give you all Chapter 4 in the series The Road Of Life!

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The Road Of Life:

Chapter 4 - Hopeful Ambition

The rest of the school day passed by quickly, it almost seemed to pass by too quickly. Shane and Alan were nowhere to be found after our little showdown, they'd probably left to go lick their wounds and plan their revenge, a revenge that I knew was coming. When we arrived back at the Greyback residence Andrew asked his mom, Carol, if I could spend another night and she didn't seem to mind much. The meal Carol made that night was fantastic, probably better than anything I'd previously eaten in my life. Around the dinner table that night we swapped stories of our day; Andrew and I said nothing of the fight earlier at school. I learned that Carol worked as a real estate agent, she made pretty good money off it. I also learned that James, Andrew's dad, was away on a business trip to Japan and wouldn't be back until next week. James worked as a translator for all sorts of matters, he spoke Chinese and Japanese. Most of the time it would be big shot company owners who'd hire him to translate when they went to broaden their market in Japan or China. After dinner I helped to clean up and then me and Andrew headed off for bed. We spent the night cuddling together on Andrew's bed, enjoying the other's embrace as we lay there.

The next day, Saturday, Andrew wanted to do something fun first thing, unfortunately I had to turn him down. Today I had a meeting with my therapist, Mrs. Hardy. He frowned, disappointment in his eyes. It made me a bit sad to have to say no to him, the way he looked at me with those cute, begging eyes. Did all furs in the canine family have the power of "puppy eyes?" I wondered. Perhaps it was just how I perceived him that gave his eyes the power they contained. I hugged him softly, resting my muzzle on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll make it up to you later when I get back." I promised him.

He smiled at that, "Alright.. but don't be too long?"

"It shouldn't take longer than a few hours." I assured him as I headed out the door to head to my appointment.

The walk to my therapist's office was kind of nice; the air was much warmer now than it would be later at night. Along my walk I paused several times to reflect upon the amazing events of the week. The walk took no longer than a half hour, leaving me with only a few minutes to spare before my appointment started. I walked into the office to see Mrs. Hardy sipping on a fresh cup of tea.

"What's it today, Oolong?" I asked.

"Ah, Max, have a seat. Yes, it's Oolong today. Care for some?" She asked politely, like she always did.

"Sure, why not?" I responded as I took a seat on the comfy leather couch she had in her office.

She poured me a cup and handed it to me, she seemed to be studying me with those piercing, all-knowing eyes of hers.

"Hm... something seems different about you Maximus." she stated as I stared back at her in confusion, not knowing what she had meant.

"Just now, the way you walked into my office, the hidden tones in your voice, they seem to be empowered with a new found confidence. Now who in God's name are you and what have you done with Max?" She questioned jokingly, a side of her that I hadn't really seen before.

I smiled at her, before giving her the courtesy of answering her question.

"I've had the most amazing few days of my life."

My voice seemed almost giddy as I once again recalled being with the wolf of my dreams as well as having beaten down my bullies the previous day.

"A few days ago I found out my secret crush had a crush on me as well. Then yesterday I beat the crap out of my bullies and warned them to leave me alone from now on!" I continued, my voice releasing an excitement that was extremely hard to contain.

Mrs. Hardy once again studied me with a raised eyebrow.

"My, my, we've been assertive lately, haven't we? Now then, your lover, what's his name?" she asked.

"His name's Andrew." I stated with a tone of pride in my voice.

It took me several seconds to process in my mind what had just occurred.

"Wait..."

"So, you're finally being truthful with yourself now?" she interrupted before I could recall my last statement.

"You knew..?" I asked, my earlier confusion returning as the good therapist continued to surprise me.

"My dear Max," she started with a relaxed, kind voice, "I knew long before you did. And I knew that all this time you were lying to yourself, allowing the world's acceptances to scare you, allowing the fear of what the world would think of you to force you to lie to yourself."

I sat there, listening intently to her, in a moment of vulnerability. She took a steady breath before continuing.

"I hated seeing you so bent out of shape, so worried about the aspects of life that you couldn't control. Now it looks like things are turning around for you. I'm so proud of you Max."

I sat there, speechless. I understood something now, that sometimes you had to let go of the things you couldn't control, the things like the past, in order to progress further into the future. I also understood that in order to progress in happiness you need to be truthful to yourself. If you aren't truthful to yourself, you'll go on in life living as a shadow of the person you could be, like I had been all this time.

"So then, Max, what plans do you have for your future?" she asked.

To be honest, I had never really even begun to think of a future before Andrew came along. It took me a moment to think about what I should do, to change around my life not only for myself, but for the Wolf I loved.

"I need a job." I stated.

Mrs. Hardy took another sip of tea, looking as calm as she had at the beginning of the session.

"I happen to have need of a maintenance person, if you're interested. It'd be every Monday and Thursday for a few hours."

My ears perked up and I almost leapt out of the chair in excitement, "Really!? I'll take that offer!" I said gladly.

Money was something I had great need for, so that I could take care of myself and stop living off of other people's charity. The rest of the session went by quickly and before I left, Mrs. Hardy gave me a hug, telling me to be safe on the way back to Andrew's place. When I got back to Andrew's he greeted me with a firm hug as well. He was excited that I was back and it seemed like if I had delayed any longer he'd have started moping like the sun had gone out. It was about 2:00 and we decided we'd go into town, hit a comic book store and read a few comics, maybe grab some dinner and catch a movie. Andrew's mom had been generous enough to leave us some money to do something; I made a mental note to thank her later and pay her back when I got some money of my own.

The time we spent together was great, but in public I couldn't help but notice the glares, the dirty looks and the quiet snide comments made about us. 'Who the hell are they to judge?' I had asked myself bitterly. However, instead of wasting precious time finding fault with each set of accusing eyes, I just did my best to ignore them. Andrew hadn't seemed to notice them at all, he was too caught up in the fun of the moment. The movie we watched was a cartoonish one that Andrew had picked. I kept finding him more and more adorable, how he was so at ease with being himself around me. After the movie we walked home, holding hands the whole way.

Upon entering the household we discovered that Carol was home.

"Oh, boys, did you have a good time?" she asked.

"Yeah mom, we had a blast." Andrew replied.

"Yeah, thanks Mrs. Greyback." I said, a knowing gratitude in my voice.

"Hey mom, can-" Andrew started.

"Honey, don't you think it's time for Max to head home to spend time with his own family?" Carol had interrupted, probably knowing what Andrew was about to ask.

Andrew paused, looking to me with a shortness of breath, not knowing what to say.

"Uhm, Mrs. Greyback.. I actually don't really have a home.."

Carol stared in awe for a few moments, taken aback by shock at my situation. We sat down at the table and I began my long and arduous tale of how I left home, to escape my abusive step-father, how most nights I wandered the streets looking for a safe place to spend the night. In the moment that we sat there I felt that I needed to be completely honest with Carol, let her know everything, and even to this day I felt it was the right call to make. I looked to Andrew giving him a look to warn him of what I was going to say, at first I saw fear and panic, but in the next moment I saw approval.

"It's about time.." he whispered, mostly to himself, as if he was telling himself it was time to reveal to his mother how he really felt.

I took a breath, fearing not only for myself but for Andrew as well.

"Honestly, Mrs. Greyback.. if not for being with your son.. I think I'd still be lost in this world, with no ambition, no reason to keep on fighting.."

Carol raised an eyebrow as she began interpreting the hidden message I had sent in that sentence. She gave a short sigh, but didn't seem upset, which so far was a good sign. She looked to Andrew first and then to me, still unsure if she had interpreted me correctly. Andrew noticed the confusion his mother showed and so he spoke up, his voice wavering just slightly.

"Mom.. I uh.. I'm gay.. and Max is my mate.."

I could sense the fear in his voice, I could feel my own fear in my heart. Carol seemed to nod her head, as if she was processing the information.

"So.. have you two..?" she paused, expecting us to catch on to what she meant.

"No. Not that." I assured.

Carol nodded her head once more as she gave a small smile. There was no hate or disappointment in her eyes, just the overwhelming look of acceptance, love and kindness. She stood up taking in a deep breath.

"You can stay here for as long as you need to Max, on the condition that should you two ever decide to... just at least be safe. We'll have to sit down together when James gets home and discuss this further."

She walked over to the two of us and when she did we both stood up. She wrapped her arms around us in a gentle hug. The fear in our minds and hearts dissipated, that had gone well. I had been deeply afraid that Andrew would have been in serious trouble. I'd always heard the stories, of how some gay furs got disowned, or got sent to camps to be 'fixed' and if this had not gone as well as it did I would have blamed myself for it all. Carol released us from her hug and said she was going to head off to be and warned us not to stay up too late. Me and Andrew headed to bed ourselves after that feeling the events of the day finally drain us in one moment. A momentary trial had been overcome but I knew this was only the beginning, there were still many adversities ahead.

Life. It's something wonderful. I know that it's difficult and sometimes the bad far outweighs the good, but if you hold on just long enough to find that one thing that you can live for things will begin to change. I found my reason, my purpose and now that I had found it I was going to fight as hard as I could to change, to become a better fur. As we drifted off to sleep I closed my eyes with hopeful ambition deeply rooted in my mind and heart. I knew the road ahead would not be easy, but that if I remained true to myself and kept hoping nothing would stop me from reaching my ambitions, from making my own world a paradise. I had a reason to live, lying in my arms, a Wolf who was just a few months younger than me, his name was Andrew. He was the reason for my ambition, the reason for my hope, the reason I'd keep fighting, even in a world that had decided my fate before I was even born.

I'll never forget the moments he laid in my arms. If I had known then, what I knew now, I would have never made some of the choices I made. But who can ever know the path we walk until we've walked it? For now a quote from an old book I had read rung through my mind like a foreshadowing of what still lie ahead: "Hope can be the greatest weapon of a downtrodden people, or the greatest enemy of those who are about to fail."

....TO BE CONTINUED....